Once a Princess
by Vialana
Summary: Riku/Sora/Kairi :: It was no surprise to all of them that normality was more difficult to get used to.


**Disclaimer: I do not own the characters from Kingdom Hearts feature herein.**

_I've been wanting to write a post-KHII fic for a while, 'cause that ending … superb. Because of that game I've recently become obsessed with two pairings: Axel/Roxas and Riku/Sora/Kairi (which is guess isn't really a _pair_ing). _

_I am a slasher at heart, but this game made me appreciate Kairi more (which the first really didn't) and though I'll probably write various other pairings as well, I thought special attention should be made to this lovely OT3._

_No real warnings, kinda fluffy, a little rambling at times (though I tried to fix that), a few spoilers for the end of KHII_

_Enjoy._

**Once a Princess**

Three weeks, two days and nine hours since they returned and slowly people were starting to accept it without sending strange looks their way. Admittedly, Kairi didn't get as many looks as the two boys she was always with, but then she'd had to deal with other looks a year before all by herself. It was a relief to be able to share opinions about stupid isolated islanders.

Not everyone gave them a second look though. Selphie had just squealed, hugged them all and started chatting as though she'd only seen them yesterday. Tidus had looked twice, but the second time was more of a scowl as he took in how physically different the two boys had become. Two years was a long time to grow when you were a teenager and Tidus hadn't grown quite as much as he'd liked. Wakka had just grinned and shaken his head, shrugging the entire situation off as the typical weirdness that surrounded Sora and Riku.

Their three old friends had taken everything in stride, but it was still a relief to be alone sometimes. What had gone on during the past years was something no one else on Destiny Islands could really share. It became something special and sacred. And even if sometimes they were unsure or afraid, there would always be someone there to reassure them that life outside the Islands really did exist and was far different than they had ever expected.

It was no surprise to all of them that normality was more difficult to get used to.

* * *

Kairi wondered how her best friends were coping with schoolwork. She'd barely managed to catch up on the year's work missed at the beginning of last year and she'd been top of her class. Riku and Sora had two years to catch up on and neither had been the most diligent of students the first time around. 

She snuck a quick glance at the two boys and noticed their frowns. She'd have to help them after school; she didn't want to be separated from them even during class time. Maybe Selphie and the others would help out as well.

Turning her attention back to the front of the classroom and the teacher's enthusiastic lecture, Kairi wondered just what everyone had thought of her sudden slip in grades. No one remembered the Heartless attack two years ago. No one remembered her own disappearance. She'd arrived back on the islands wondering if the whole mess she'd been caught up in was just a dream herself until she realised she'd been returned an entire year after she remembered being taken.

On top of that, no one remembered Sora and barely recalled Riku. Even she realised thoughts were fading too easily and she struggled to hold on to her hope that her friends were alive and real and would be returning to her safe.

She risked one more glance over at her two boys.

She didn't want to lose them again. She'd do anything to keep them safe.

* * *

"Do you get this?" Sora scratched at his head as he glanced at his notebook during lunch. 

He and Riku had their schoolwork spread out in front of them, their food barely touched – which was a feat for Sora – as they looked at the mess everyone kept telling them would help create them a better future.

"I'm just as lost as you, which is really concerning me." Riku's attempt at a joke fell flat as neither boy seemed eager to contemplate the situation they were currently in.

Sora picked up on his worries and couldn't alleviate them. "We're really totally screwed."

"Yeah."

"Crap."

"Man, how pathetic do you two look now?"

Sora and Riku looked up to see Kairi grinning at them. They scowled in unison and she only smiled brighter.

"It's not that bad," she said as she slid in next to Sora, pushing aside his pile of textbooks to make room for her own lunch.

"Yes it is," Sora grimaced and rearranged his pile, taking a quick bite of his sandwich. "I don't recognise half of this and the other half only makes sense because it's written in the same language I speak."

"Oh poor you. You're right; it is the end of the world."

"That's so comforting, Kairi," Riku muttered. "Honestly, it's days like this that I wonder whether it was worth it coming back."

Kairi froze and Sora glanced up, sending a sharp look across the table. Riku suddenly realised what that sounded like and opened his mouth in an immediate apology.

"Kairi, that's not what I meant."

"Yes it was."

Riku struggled to argue but gave up. "Okay, yes it was, but …"

Kairi didn't give him a chance to find an excuse and left the two of them amidst their sea of ciphered books.

* * *

Riku sometimes wonders what life would have been like if he'd never had his damnable curiosity. Then he considers if he'd even be himself if that was the case. The problem wasn't really regretting everything that happened – the past is the past, it happened and there wasn't anything you could do to change it, you could only move on. The problem was his curiosity had never left him, even knowing what he did now about the worlds outside of his own tiny one. 

He wanted to go back.

Riku never said anything to the others. Kairi had been desperate for the two of them to return home with her and Sora's desire for home had always been written somewhere on his expressive face. It hurt to think of leaving them behind, but Riku had been more comfortable living in darkness, risking his very existence, than he had in this safe sandy haven.

It made him sick. But sometimes he didn't care.

Then he'd catch a glimpse of laughing blue eyes or a flash of dark red hair twirling in the wind and he'd doubt himself. It was enough to be with his friends. He'd remember seeing Kairi again in the castle as she struggled desperately to escape the Nobodies to find him and Sora – the bright smile when she saw Sora again, the determination as she fought alongside him. He'd remember Sora calling Kairi's name and clutching at his arm, tears falling, telling Riku how desperately he'd looked for him, that nothing he'd done had mattered that Sora would always be his friend, would always care. He remembered his own motivations ever since waking the first time in that darkness: to find Kairi, help Sora, save them both, protect them from what he'd become and others like him. In the end they'd only succeeded because they'd been together, each desperately seeking the other.

Wasn't it enough now that they were all reunited?

* * *

"He's such an idiot sometimes." Kairi fumed as she walked with Sora towards their homes. 

Sora rolled his eyes. "Shouldn't you be telling him that, not me?"

Kairi glared. "Shouldn't you be quietly sympathising?"

"Fine, fine. Riku's an idiot. Not that it's news to anyone."

Kairi managed a small giggle at that and Sora smiled, though it soon faded.

"I can understand how he feels though."

Kairi stopped. "What?"

Sora turned around to look at her with a gaze so serious that she wondered how she failed to noticed how much he'd really changed. No matter how real she knew her adventures were, they still seemed like a fairytale. It never really sunk in how close all of them came to dying, to slipping away into darkness. Maybe the shock had never completely worn off, but seeing Sora gaze at her like that made her remember that this boy had saved the universe. _Sora_ had saved the universe and _she'd_ helped him and _Riku_ …

"He's still messed up, isn't he?"

Sora shrugged. "I think I am a little too. You have to understand, we went into that final battle knowing that, no matter what happened, we weren't coming back. I know what we said to you and maybe that was unfair, but we couldn't risk hesitating against someone like Xemnas. Afterwards … it was enough that we were together, thinking a life in eternal darkness was penance enough."

Kairi was stunned. Neither boy had opened up to her about anything after she'd left them for home that last time. To think that they could have been trapped alone for the rest of their lives …

"When you called to us, you have to understand that we didn't come back to the Islands. We came back to _you_."

Kairi couldn't say anything. She'd known, on some level, that this was true; she'd just never dared to hope that her desperate feelings for the two boys could ever be returned so easily.

She smiled and replied the only way she could.

"Thank you," she said as she kissed him on the cheek. Sora smiled, a little bemused and flushed.

"Are you gonna tell Riku that too?"

"Of course." With another brilliant smile, she dashed off.

* * *

Sora had always understood what friendship was; he'd experienced some of the strongest examples throughout his life. He also understood there were deeper levels to many friendships. 

No relationships in his life had ever surpassed the depths he felt for Kairi and Riku.

Sitting on a dark beach watching the still moon between bare black branches; it wasn't the prettiest picture, but Sora had been content. Side-by-side with Riku, reunited after an agonising time apart not knowing if the other boy was safe, if he was happy, if he'd ever see Riku again. They'd beat the bad guy, they'd rescued Kairi and all was right with the world. He'd finally found Riku again and that was enough.

Then Kairi's letter came with a door to the light. It hadn't been a choice. He'd just grabbed Riku's hand and jumped. They'd never be apart again. Sora wouldn't let anything come between them.

He was never going to let their hands fall apart again.

* * *

Kairi found Riku at the beach, looking out to the sea. It was always where Riku could be found when he was alone. 

He knew she was there, he always did.

"I'm not going to leave you again," he said without turning.

Kairi moved up beside him. "I know, it was stupid for me to think that."

"No, it was a reasonable fear." Riku glanced at her, a sardonic smile on his face. "I haven't really done much to inspire faith."

"That's not true," Kairi responded immediately, grabbing onto his shoulders, cursing that she had to reach so far up now. "You saved me, you saved the world. You came back. That's enough."

Riku hung his head. His fringe was long enough to hide his expressive eyes. He'd never been able to lie to her or Sora when they could see his eyes. "Maybe."

"No, not maybe. It is enough. But it's okay to want more."

Riku snorted. "You'd think I'd had enough 'more' over the years."

Kairi shrugged and let her hands fall. "You're not the only one who's feeling a little restless." Riku frowned, looking at her in confusion. "You know Sora as well as I do, he's always been a little air-headed, but this is different. He's longing for something, probably the same thing you are. Maybe even what I am."

"Kairi …"

"Look, I never wanted you guys to be unhappy. I just thought …" She looked away, trying to distract herself by looking at the waves, telling herself that her eyes were tearing up because of the sunlight glinting off the water.

"We're not unhappy," Riku told her firmly. She looked up and saw he was sincere. "We're not. I'm not. It's just … this feels like a dream, something I've longed for so long that, now that I've achieved it, I don't know what to do with it. You'd think it would be the other way."

"Magic keyblades and ships sailing to other worlds hounded by the powers of darkness do sound a little unreal, don't they?"

Riku and Kairi turned to look at Sora as he walked towards them.

"It was kind of exciting, wasn't it?" he asked with a grin.

"If you call death-defying exciting," Kairi replied.

"Hey, there were pirates, okay, you don't get cooler than pirates. Or lions. Or mermen. Or––"

"We got the picture, doofus." Riku playfully swiped at Sora's head, both grinning as he dodged easily.

"It's not fair," Kairi muttered. "I was either asleep or a prisoner the entire time. Next time one of you can be taken hostage and I can come in and save the day. I'd so do a way better job than either of you."

"Oh yeah?" Sora countered while Riku looked a little stunned.

"Next time?" he asked.

Kairi just smiled and reached up to plant a kiss on his cheek. "Sure, next time you can be the damsel in distress, Riku." Riku was still speechless while Kairi smirked and Sora howled on the ground.

Kairi walked home dripping wet after leaving her two boys still in the surf; all the while a smile no one had seen for almost two years lit up her face.

It wasn't long after that Kairi found a message in a bottle floating on the waves. 


End file.
